The book of Revelation describes a group of people known as the twenty-four elders, who surround the throne of God in heaven and who sing his praises.
Who are they?
One clue is the number twenty-four.
A suggestion that some scholars have made is that there seem to have been twenty-four courses of Jewish priests in the first century.
This is a possibility, but the twenty-four courses of Jewish priests served one after each other, not all twenty-four at once. They also, obviously, included more than one priest each.
It’s possible that the number of courses of Jewish priests played a role in the shaping of this text (or, from a heavenly perspective, visa-versa), but it seems to me that there is an even more obvious significance to the number 24 that would suggest itself to the original readers: It’s 12+12, and the Church at this time was acutely aware of the fact that it represents a fusion of the original Israel (with its twelve tribes/tribal patriarchs) and the new Israel (with its twelve apostles).
We even see fusion imagery like that at the end of the book, where New Jerusalem is depicted as having twelve foundations, named after the twelve apostles of the Lamb, and twelve gates, named after the twelve tribes of Israel.
So I’ve always thought that, while the courses of priests might have some role here, the more natural interpretation is that the number twenty-four is based on the number of the patriarchs and apostles.
I was thus pleased when I was reading an audience of John Paul II in which he said this:
In this regard, the first passage of our Canticle is significant. It is set on the lips of the 24 elders who seem to symbolize God’s Chosen People in their two historical phases, the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 Apostles of the Church [General Audience of Jan. 12, 2005].
I always love it when I discover the pope expressing an opinion I’ve long held. I take it as a sign I’ve been on the right track.
There is also something else interesting about this passage: John Paul II said that the twenty-four elders “seem to symbolize.” That language is significant. The pope isn’t teaching that they are or that we must believe this is what they symbolize. He is proposing this view as plausible rather than imposing it as mandatory.
An awareness of the difference between these modes of language is important for correctly interpreting magisterial documents and the mind of the Church, and this passage offers a good illustration of the point. The Magisterium can invoke different levels of authority for propositions. In some cases propositions as proposed but not imposed. In other cases they are authoritatively proclaimed. And in rare cases they are even infallibly proclaimed.
The proper interpretation of magisterial documents thus involves not just recognizing what is being said but also what level of authority is being invested in it, neither understating that level (as dissidents tend to) nor exaggerating it (as a kind of reflexive infallibilism tends to), but correctly assessing and determining the level of authority that was intended by the Magisterium.
It’s something I’ve always thought about. Thanks for posting.
Thank you for this post. I think it will be useful in any catechesis on Revelation.
I’ve always thought so, too. The cool thing to ponder, just for fun, is: assuming the John of Revelation is John the Apostle, is the elder to speaks to him in Revelation 5: 5 and/or 7: 13 a future version of himself?
And just to toss this out there, Pope Sixtus V in Triumphantis Hierusalem (who was also quoted with approval by Pope Leo XIII in Aeterni Patris) says that the two olive trees and two lamp stands in Revelation 11:4 are St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas. Again, not as a definitive interpretation, but as a plausible one.
Long ago, I took a course at UND about the New Testament. I remember the professor talking about numerology. He said that 3 is kind of a mystical number and 4 is the number of perfection. And that many of the numbers used in the Bible are combinations of 3 and 4; you see 7 used a lot, as well as 12. When you see those numbers, he said, they are symbolic. Could the 24 elders, then, be symbolic of the right, perfect, mystical number of elders times two (4X3X2) rather than referring to Apostles or tribes? I’m not trying to argue here; just wondering if I’m way off base.
We know because Truth in Scripture harmonizes, that these 24 Elders are without controversy- at The Divine level. Also Jimmy, I do not see any conflict in 24 Jewish Priests who lived in this earhly timebound dimension being mention in Scripture’s Visions of Heaven that are sans time. Technically, they could be in seen in Heaven’s ‘future’ during a rare prophetic Vision- or, and hang onto your seat, they could be in Heaven at the same instance the Visioner (say John the Divine) saw his Angel sponsered Vison- and be alive corporally on earth. With God, all things are possible. Time is a result of objective observation and objective measurement of movement in this earthly ‘lower’ dimension. Without mass and (light, heat) we could NOT have time. The four dimensions we live in are massive. The seven ‘above’ are not- “Flesh and blood are not allowed in Heaven”. Our corporal ‘essense’ may be in Heaven, but why would anyone want to carry around this body anchor forever? Thank God this pass/fail test is only 120 years max! Our superior Holy Spiritual spark/bodies are who we need to chose to be and follow. We are simply eternal Spirits with temporary bodies- not Soulcentric temporary bodies with muses of a possible afterlife.
Most people do not even know why we are here; where we can go; or how to get there! Follow Christ and the Holy Spirit spark put into you at conception- then maybe I’ll see you in Heaven. Which is really funny because if Saint Joseph helps bring us; and Saint Peter is at the Pearlly Gates, wouldn’t that leave 22 Elders? No, because like the Holy Spirit, Saints and Angels can indeed bilocated- be in two places at once!! SK Daryl Breese